A student in my English class, Rami, argued that Shakespeare's Hamlet is a sassy character towards his whore mother and selfish murderer of a father / uncle (because it's not a good Shakespeare tragedy without some death, incest, complicated romantic relationships, and political overthrow).
This is probably one of my favorite yet neglected adjectives. Sassiness implies an element of attitude, some comic relief, and boldness. I think sassy comments essentially say "It may not be politically correct for me to say this to you... It may not even be nice... But I've got all these emotions running around, and I'm going to tell you exactly what I think." Although it can be used in a negative context, I think it also requires a degree of honesty. It necessitates that the speaker confidently states his claim without hesitation.
We like to describe God by warm adjectives - loving, caring, merciful. Sometimes we get daring and address His stern attributes - just, jealous, angry, fearful. I often see (and am slightly annoyed by) lofty terms that are ambiguous (perhaps fittingly, considering God cannot be understood) like "God is amazing, huge, awesome". But I think there's another series of controversial characteristics that we see displayed and yet we don't seem to approach very often. My God is clever. He has quite the sense of humor. And yes - He's even sassy.
I think we see this happen more than once in Scripture. In John 4, we see the woman at the well. When Jesus tells her to bring her husband back (Daddy always wants to meet his daughter's new boy, right?), she claims that she has no husband. In verse 17-18 He replies with "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not our husband. What you have just said is quite true."
What do you do with that response? A strange man you just met moments ago is telling you not just your life story, but your deepest secrets - and you have nothing to deny it with. Oh, and by the way, it's the Messiah. You know, God-man, man-God, three-in-one, one-in-three. I imagine Him saying it with a very straight face, a matter-of-fact tone, and a little head nod at the end. I think her response is even funnier - she proceeds to claim that he must be a prophet and gives him a lesson in worship. Oh sweetie, dream big - if only you knew. I imagine her saying all of this as confidently as she can, despite the fact that she's about to wet herself. I think she would be tugging on her dress or twirling her hair, maybe frantically trying to find a way out of there. If I was the woman, I'd probably drop my jaw and want to cry, completely speechless.
If I was watching, I'd probably laugh and be glad that wasn't me. The thing is though, it often is Dani standing at the well with a bucket of sin on her hip, sputtering and making excuses. Sometimes (okay, more realistically, often), God needs to call me out on my junk. I know I can't deceive God, but I often lie to myself - I'm not only a persuasive person, but also rather gullible, which makes for an awful mix. I come up with all sorts of misconstrued logic chains in a pitiful attempt to justify my sin - but it always ends up the same. The Holy Spirit will whisper to me at first that I've done wrong and need to deal with it accordingly. Then as my demons become louder, the Holy Spirit will start screaming at me to listen and respond. I think conviction is a good thing, because at the end of the day, when I'm lying in my bed, I need to know what I've done and the subsequent consequences. I need to be aware of and believe truth. I know there's nothing I can do to retract my actions or my thoughts; although I may be able to hide my transgressions from man, I will always address to the only One who sees right through my invalid arguments and false self-witnessing.
Super Zeus? (:
I was reading Judges 10 the other day, and began to laugh to myself when I tried to picture the situation happening.
So here are the Israelites, again having forsaken their God (the repetitive theme of the Old Testament - and yet He continues to reach out to us over and over again... sacrificing His Son... saving us... but that's another blog for another day). I'm not sure what they saw in these Pagan gods; but then again, sometimes I am no more faithful and find myself surrounded by idols that I have put in priority. Maybe God didn't answer their prayers in the way they wanted or anticipated and they lost faith or became bitter. Maybe they felt inadequate or ashamed. Maybe they saw something else shining in the corner and got distracted. Maybe they believed the Old Lie and let Satan get the best of them. I like how Revelation 2:4 accuses us of having forsaken our first love - we forget time and time again all of the great things Yahweh has done for us. We love Him, yes, but we still leave Him anyway. Why do we do what we do? But I'm digressing...
Anyway, back to the story. So the Israelites deny God yet again and become idolaters. God knows (time tested and approved) that His people always come running back when the going gets rough. When we think we can do it all we lose our neediness and our trust - how ignorant of us to believe ourselves to be more powerful? God knows that when we are weakest there are two truths: First, that He is strong and we will admire that power. Or secondly, that we are in need of a Saviour and need help. Either way, we will come running back with humbled, receptive hearts. God becomes angry with the Israelites (although by this time, I wouldn't blame Him if He got a bit annoyed, too) and decides to show them who's boss and that they aren't as strong as they perceive themselves to be by feeding them into the hands of their enemies.
This is the point where I wonder "Will we ever learn?" and "I wonder how many times the Bible tells this same plot?" I'm guessing that it's of some importance.
As we all do, the Israelites came crying back to God, begging at His feet to rescue them. I do think that they were legitimately terrified, and I wonder how desperate they were before they mustered the nerve to return to the same One they had insulted so many times before. It's no different than screaming at your boss, teacher, the associate over the phone, whoever, that they are worthless and have no clue what they are talking about when they warn you against an action that could severely maim your life - then the consequences being fulfilled, and you having to return with the request of a pardon and help fixing it. That takes some guts. God owed them no favors, however, and apparently didn't think they had learned their lesson.
This is my favorite part, where God essentially tells them "Let me know you how much of a fool you are." As the Israelites are begging to be rescued, God states (if it were me, I'd be rather sarcastic and wear a smirk) "When your enemies were beating on you and you asked me to help, did I not save you before (paraphrased)? But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them save you when you are in trouble!"
First of all, that's a rough line to hear on the receiving end. God's ticked. He's annoyed. He's fed up with the Israelites and their games. It's never a good day when the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth is irritated with you and your shenanigans. Secondly, those lines just make me laugh; God just got sassy with the Israelites. He told them what's up and who's boss. God essentially says "You want it your way? Okay. Have it!" He's not interested in playing games anymore - at some point, they will realize that there is no way they can win.
What I love even more though, is the next few lines. I would be disgustingly ashamed at this point, but the Israelites continue to beg. Either they're seriously desperate or they're excessively bold. They again admit they have sinned - except this time they relinquish control to God. They tell Him that He can do whatever He wants to with them. That's an intimidating offer that requires mass quantities of trust. God knows what He's doing and He knows the heart of the matter despite what our words say. Had they not totally given up control before? Were they just waiting for God to free them so they could go back to their pagan lifestyle? If that's the case, then I don't think they could be classified as being "desperate"... perhaps "tired" is a better word.
After they had confessed their sin and given control rightfully back to God, the Israelites then removed the sin from their lives. They stripped away all of the pagan idols. After they had cleaned themselves up, they began to serve the Lord before He even began to act. That's trust. They realized they were wrong. They gave up control and asked for help. They removed their temptations. They served God. And then "... He could bear Israel's misery no longer."
Let that marinate for a minute.
How desperate the Israelites must have been to achieve all of this. It was only until after they had completed all of those steps that God decided to step in, that they were serious enough. I love how God displays His compassion here; the pain the Israelite's felt also radiated through their Creator. The One that formed the sun and the moon and the stars with His own breath and never once was weakened by temptation felt empathy towards a group of simple people that couldn't make it more than a few minutes without insulting Him. He never forsakes His people - but rather, leaves us alone for a time to face our demons until we're ready to fully commit to a change.
I'm pretty sure God's got it all figured out.
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